Rep. Ogles says FBI took phone day after primary win amid campaign finance scrutiny

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said that the FBI took possession of his cell phone last week as part of what he said is an apparent investigation into campaign finance issues.

“It has been widely reported for months that my campaign made mistakes in our initial financial filings. We have worked diligently with attorneys and reporting experts to correct the errors and ensure compliance going forward,” Ogles said in a post on the social platform X on Tuesday. 

“Last Friday, the FBI took possession of my cell phone. It is my understanding that they are investigating the same well-known facts surrounding these filings. I will of course fully cooperate with them, just as I have with the Federal Election Commission,” Ogles said. “I am confident all involved will conclude that the reporting discrepancies were based on honest mistakes, and nothing more.”

Local Tennessee outlet NewsChannel 5 Nashville broke the news that the FBI executed a search on Ogles earlier Tuesday.

The FBI seizure of Ogles’s cell phone came a day after he defeated a well-financed primary challenger. The Department of Justice generally avoids taking steps in an investigation close to an election, often referred to as the 60-day rule, though it is not established in writing.

Ogles, a first-term lawmaker and member of the House Freedom Caucus who did not immediately support former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in January 2023, won the primary with 56.5 percent of the vote, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Legal counsel for Ogels did not immediately return The Hill’s request for comment, nor did the FBI.  

U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee spokesperson Mark Wildasin declined to comment, “pursuant to department policy.”

Though federal authorities have not confirmed the reason for the search, it is apparently the latest development in Ogles getting heat over campaign finance issues and his personal biography.

At the center of the scrutiny was a $320,000 loan that Ogles reported that he made to his own 2022 campaign as it began. NewsChannel 5 raised questions about how Ogles financed that loan since he also reported few personal assets.

The Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit watchdog, filed a complaint with the Congressional Ethics Office in January over the issue, saying that Ogles failed to disclose “the assets that he purportedly used” to make the loan, as well as failing to report a $700,000 line of credit that he opened in 2022.

The complaint compared Ogles to former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who famously fabricated swaths of his biography and is facing felony charges for fraud after his own campaign finance issues; he was expelled from Congress last year. Ogles, a NewsChannel 5 report alleged, had exaggerated his credentials — which the ethics complaint references, noting his claims of being “an ‘economist’ who formerly worked in ‘law enforcement’ and ‘worked in international sex crimes’ or ‘human trafficking’ when he lacks meaningful career or educational background in any of these fields.”

Ogles later filed a series of amendments to his Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosures.

Ogles said in a statement in May that while he had pledged to loan his own campaign up to $320,000 “if needed” — “everything I own” — he only needed to transfer $20,000.

“Unfortunately, the full amount of my pledge was mistakenly included on my campaign’s FEC reports,” Ogles said in the statement, saying that he will file amendments to his FEC reports to “reflect the circumstances of my original pledge.”